Latest Soundwave And Sidewave News - September

It’s been a month since the initial release of the 2015 Soundwave line-up and there has been mixed reactions across the country.

Perth residents are missing out on the festival all together and the line-up wasn't quite what punters were expecting. The buzz word is that two out of the three main acts are a little old school and outdated.

I must admit, at first, I thought Faith No More and Soundgarden were unusual placements to share the main stage, especially since the alternative-metal dissenters, Faith No More, haven’t released an album for 18 years — moreover, their next album won’t be completed until April 2015. And, while fellow ‘90s grungy-ass rockers Soundgarden released ‘King Animal’ in 2012, they too will not have a new album until 2015 — although they may be somewhat forgiven as it’s their 20th anniversary of the superlative ‘Superunknown’.

The third headliner, Slipknot, on the other hand have their highly anticipated newbie hitting stores on October 21, and is strangely titled ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’. The new instalment will be their fifth album to date, but the question circling social media waves is: 'how could they fill a two-hour timeslot?'. Soundwave promoter, AJ Maddah, responded on Twitter: “They get to play for as long as they want”.

Will there be another headliner announced this month? The street posters around town and on the official website disclose: ‘With more to be announced across both days!’. Or, as Maddah put it: "a bunch of bands couldn't get their shit together in time. So now there'll be two [announcements].” It’s believed another 14 bands will be revealed within a week or two.

The pending broadcast has prompted another key question: Will they be big acts, local acts or middle of the road crowd pullers? This sort of mystery sandwich drives me bonkers, so I asked AJ Maddah himself what the go was. Unfortunately, all I received in reply was one of his infamous ambiguous one-liners: “There'll be a few smaller bands, etc”.

After a bit of research and snooping around I uncovered some possible answers. But first, if you had any hope that the guys mentioned below were coming out, I'm sorry to say you can now cross them off your list:

• Anvil — AJ Maddah revealed: “Never on the cards for SW15?”.
• Black Label Society — were originally likely contenders, but didn't fit the budget. The good news is that I have been told by their Australian promoter we will be seeing them in March, 2015.
• Body Count — seriously, were they ever contenders? Wrong festival, yeah?
• Against Me! — was ruled out early in the game.

More likely contenders, backed by insistent rumours include self-proclaimed 'metal kings’ Manowar, hardcore punksters Rise Against, Italian gothic metal act Lacuna Coil, The Pretty Reckles, Americana rockers Gaslight Anthem, The Wonder Years, Evergreen Terrace, Finnish metallers Lordi, Chimaira, the new supergroup Killer Be Killed, Millencolin and ‘80s thrash metal masters Overkill.

Also being tossed around like a plastic bottle in the pit is Motley Crue as a headliner. However, I’ve been told by, let’s just say ‘people in the know’, you can rule that one out too. But who knows? It's been a few years since their last stadium-filling tour with KISS, so they could be up for it. They would be quite a contrast, but I think Crue’s logo would look just fine on top of the bill next to Slipknot’s.

Sidewaves News

Recently it’s been all about the top-hat claded Slash, with two big announcements confirming he will definitely be playing Sidewave shows as well as performing at the National Rugby League Grand Final next month.

Boston-based hard rockers Godsmack are about to pop-out their hot new release, ‘1000hp’, and I had the pleasure of speaking to Sully (vocalist) at the weekend. He tentatively confirmed several Sidewave shows. “Not sure yet. I think we are going to be doing some shows besides the festival. I’ve heard great things about Australia. We have never been on tour there before. I hear the festivals are massive!”

Maddah has confirmed there will be no Sidewave shows in Adelaide. Originally he stated that Adelaide was looking doubtful of even hosting the festival. He told one of his Twitter followers that there “won’t be any” Adelaide Sidewaves.

I am sure by next month's update there will be quite a few more Sidewave shows announced so keep an eye out for the next instalment. In the meantime, in keeping the theme of SW15, stay super and rock on.

The official line-up thus far:

Soundwave 2015 Day One

Faith No More
Soundgarden
Incubus
Lamb Of God
Ministry
Antemasque
Gerard Way
Mayhem
New Found Glory
Fear Factory
Hollywood Undead
Atreyu
The Aquabats
Area 7
Godflesh
Crown The Empire
The Interrupters
Icon For Hire
Emily's Army
Patent Pending
Fireworks
The Bennies
The Color Morale
Monuments
Nothing More
Deathstars
Ne Obliviscaris
The Treatment

Soundwave 2015 Day Two

Slipknot
Slash
Marilyn Manson
Fall Out Boy
Judas Priest
Godsmack
All Time Low
Papa Roach
Of Mice & Men
Escape The Fate
Apocalyptica
Lagwagon
Tonight Alive
Crossfaith
Butcher Babies
Confession
The Swellers
Conditions
Coldrain
King 810
Dayshell
This Wild Life

Soundwave Festival Dates

Sat 21st-Sun 22nd Feb - Bonython Park (Adelaide)
Sat 21st-Sun 22nd Feb - Flemington Racecourse (Melbourne)
Sat 28th Feb-Sun 1st Mar - Olympic Park (Sydney)
Sat 28th Feb-Sun 1st Mar - Brisbane Showgrounds